Country Style July 2021

Living in the city, it is hard to relate to some aspects of country life. I can read all the news articles and watch all the current affairs programs reporting on the mouse plague, but I don’t know what it is really like to live through it. I empathise, of course, but I don’t wake up in the morning to full traps, my nostrils aren’t filled with their pungent smell, and I’m not faced with the destruction of my property and crops – the loss of my livelihood with no end in sight. My heart goes out to everyone battling these vermin. Moving to the country is something many of us dream of, imagining wide open spaces, fresh air, a few cattle, green paddocks, a beautiful farmhouse and a welcoming, close-knit community.…

EMMA MOSS New columnist Emma lives on a cattle station in the Kimberley, between Derby and Fitzroy Crossing. Her photography features on her Instagram @life_on_a_station, and in her story on page 98. Growing up on 40 hectares outside Toowoomba, Emma fell in love with station life as soon as she encountered it on her post-high-school gap year in 2016. “I love the isolation and the community that it brings together,” she says. “It’s also gorgeous scenery and so peaceful. Boab trees are my favourite plant on earth and I’m surrounded by them.” Not coincidentally, that was when Emma, 22, first picked up a camera, and her Instagram account has flourished ever since. Now she nannies for the station manager’s two children – and looks after her two sausage dogs, Moose and Mabel. JESSICA…

GARDEN GLORIES Whenever I pick up my monthly copy of Country Style, I always feel a sense of anticipation and excitement as I turn the first pages, and long to squirrel myself away so that I can indulge uninterrupted. Every issue is like therapy for the soul. And the May issue was therapy in abundance, especially the magnificent gardens of Jenny and John Shaw in Woodend. I found myself returning to the photos over and over again, trying to imagine how this canvas of nature’s glory would transform during the region’s distinct seasons. It must be bliss. Many thanks to Jenny and John for giving us a glimpse of their paradise. Judith Caine, Donvale, Vic A POP IN MOVEMENT I felt compelled to write regarding your article Popping In [May issue]. As a…

IT’S WEDNESDAY, which means it’s tennis night. And though I’ve now been playing in the local pennant for the last eight years I’m nothing if not predictable and without fail, curse my commitment. I scrub the dirt from under my nails, find a cleaner jumper, tennis shoes and $4 in coins for ball money and then drive into our local town to belt a yellow ball with great inconsistency over the net. I never manage to eat tea before I leave and frequently arrive breathless and wishing I’d never signed up. I hadn’t played in a “competition” since school. But in an effort to meet my new community I dutifully went along. Tennis was one of those skills my parents had insisted we learn, along with a musical instrument (a waste…

CHAMPION SNOWBOARDER Torah Bright’s affinity with the mountains was shaped by her childhood in the foothills of the Kosciuszko National Park in southern NSW. Torah was born and grew up in Cooma with her parents Peter, a farmer turned irrigation specialist, Marion, a nurse, and her four siblings. “The whole Bright family loved being out in nature. We were so lucky that the bush was a short walk from our house,” she says. “Our mum also realised we were much better behaved and were actually friends when we were outside,” she laughs. Torah recalls plenty of adventures with her brothers and sisters, Robin, now 43, Rowena, now 41, Ben, now 36 and Abish, now 32. “I was the second youngest of five so there was always someone I wanted to chase…

BUILDING A NEW LIFE Shelley and Tyrone Kennedy moved from Perth to a cattle farm near Denmark in January 2020. “We relocated from Perth to Upland Farm in January 2020 – but we’d been planning the move since buying it in 2018. Lots of our friends are farmers or grew up in the country and we admired their lifestyle. Country living became more appealing after having our girls, Clover, five, and Mavi, three (we also have Banjo, a border collie). “We run 50 cattle on our 43-hectare farm. We spent seven months building our home (we own a commercial construction company in Perth, Alcove Engineering and Construction, and Tyrone is an engineer and commercial builder), and then built a guest house for income and a place for family and friends to stay.…